No Such Thing as Bad Publicity? A Look at a Mordern Warfare 2 Leak

I couple posts back I talked about the L4D2 cinematic trailer that was "leaked" onto the Internet. I use quotation marks because it's pretty well known that -- especially among online sources -- it's popular to say that some video was leaked in order to make it some more risque and get people to click. The truth is that many times the content was purposefully fed to certain sites before others.

In the case of the L4D2 trailer, the "leak" of the final cut just a few days before the release of the pre-order demo is fairly suspect. After all, it was all polished up and already packaged into the demo by that point, and "leaking" the trailer was probably a way of helping to drive pre-orders, since a early demo release was made available to everyone who pre-ordered the game.

On the other hand, G4TV posted a story yesterday about what I would venture to say is a more legitimate "leak." This leak showed game footage from the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 (the newest installment in the Call of Duty franchise) in which the player controls a terrorist. Spoiler warnings abound, so read at your own risk.

In the level (reportedly the beginning of the game), the player is with a group of men who murder innocent civilians in an airport. The level seems to consist primarily of capping innocent people, including the clearly injured who are trying in vain to hobble away as you shoot them in the back. This is where CNN's video ends. Based on other internet reports, after the airport killing spree, the group then exit to the tarmac where they pass a pile of dead bodies, and shoot some cops.

Then, in classic Modern Warfare style, the character you are playing is flat-out murdered in a cutscene.

This is obviously some strong stuff, and it's predictable that folks would take issue with it -- especially people who don't understand gamer culture, or even believe that videogames turn kids into killing machines. The footage itself has been removed, likely due to a DMCA take-down notice, further validating it as a real leak. Leaks like this one can pose particularly troublesome problems.

Successful advertising almost always depends on having some semblance of control over your brand's image. Whether that means directing each and every move, or just getting the ball rolling in the right direction, there is some planning that goes into it. Leaks of such charged and unsettling gameplay take away that control where it may be needed most: it's pretty easy to see how tempting it would be for news sources (especially those unfamiliar with the game industry, or even hostile towards it) to take the footage out of context. I can see it already: "Violent Shoot-em-up Encourages Kids to Become Terrorists and Kill Civilians!"

Aside from not being able to closely manage the effect the controversy may have on their image, Infinity Ward (the publishers of  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2) now has to spend time and capital guarding against any further leaks before the game hits shelves on November 10th.

Kill All Sons'a Bitches: L4D2 M-Rated Cinematic Trailer "Leaked"

And my God, it is positively delicious looking.

I've mentioned Left4Dead and Left4Dead2 in a few blog posts, and the leak of this trailer is another opportunity to look at some nifty advertising, specifically the pre-launch type.



Like in the film industry, many videogames -- especially those created by successful publishing companies -- release cinematic "trailers" before the actual launch of the title. Trailers for videogames, like those for movies, obviously have the job of trying to sell you on purchasing a product (whether that is a game disc, a movie ticket, or a DVD).

What's trickier about videogame trailers, however, is that generally the content cannot just be ripped from already-shot scenes of the film. This is especially so in the case of "cinematic" trailers, which people believe represent the highest animation quality of which the graphics engine running the game is capable). That, and not only do you have to tell a story -- you have to show off what the gameplay will be like, which is easier said than done. Representing the way it feels to actually play the game through a passive medium, like watching a Youtube movie, is definitely more art than science.

As a devoted fan of the first game, I can only hope that the quality of this trailer indicates the "feel" of the upcoming game. Even if I had no experience, no familiarity at all, with the original game, this trailer would certainly be enough to make me go find out more about the upcoming release.

PS. In case the Youtube clip is taken down, you can also watch the trailer here.